May 7, 2014

Adventure Comics #468 [1980]

ADVENTURE COMICS #468 [1980] has the 8-page Starman story "Uneasy Lies The Crown" written by Paul Levitz and drawn by Steve Ditko and Romeo Tanghal. This is the second chapter of the twelve issue run on the feature. This story is a bridge between the previous introductory story and the next, which provides the origin of the character, so there are a lot of hints about his connections to the Imperial royal family as he foils a plot gain control of the Empire in an impending coronation.

A solid story laying out some of the groundwork for the character, with Ditko showing off a few of the visual designs he did for Starman's powers and his world, plus a little bit more of the mysterious supporting character Mn'torr who appeared briefly at the end of the first story.

I'm pretty sure this was actually the first chapter of the story I read when it was originally published, followed by #470, and it would be a while before I got the chapters I missed, so I can tell you it was pretty effective in telling a satisfying complete story in each chapter while building up the bigger story.